Runners Boot Camp Idea!!

And so there is yet another exciting adventure I'm about to embark on.....I'm setting up a runners boot camp in Copenhagen!

I have bought the domain name runnersbootcamp.dk and am in the process of setting up a website which should be done within the next couple of weeks.

I decided to do this for a few reasons, the main one, of course, being that I want to help other people reach their running goals and go further. I also want to do more with my running coach education.

The idea is that the boot camp will be for all abilities, trained on all surfaces, and involves many different types of training such as interval, slow tempo runs, endurance work, hill training, running games and so on. One main goal is that people will enjoy themselves and have fun :-)

It will run twice a week with the first day being Thursday 3rd May. Thursday 3rd May and Saturday 5th May are free days. It will run for 4 weeks at a time with 8 sessions. Every second month there will be a 'free Thursday' so people can try before they buy!

I am really excited to see where this idea will go..................

Great 5k in My New Nimbus 12's!

I've just got back from a great 5k run in my new trainers :-)

I wrote a little while back that I would run a 5k as fast as possible, then do the 10-20-30 training twice a week for one month and then run the same 5k again to see if the 10-20-30 training does indeed better your time.

I ran this 5k in 27 minutes and 15 seconds which is only 40 seconds off my personal best. That isn't bad considering it was an EXTREMELY windy day today and the first 2k I ran was into the wind.

I look forward to see how much (if at all) my 5k time will improve in a month. I will run at the same time of day as today and with as close to the weather conditions as I can get to try and get a fair test!

New Asics Nimbus 12 Trainers!

I have just bought myself some new Asics Nimbus 12 trainers :-) Talk about hard to find!
Everywhere is selling the Nimbus 13 so it has been really hard to find some Nimbus 12's and finding them in the size I want made it even harder.

I decided to stick to the Nimbus 12's as my feet have high arches and Nimbus 13 gets bad reviews from people with feet like mine. Also I tried on the Nimbus 13's and found them to be so narrow I felt that my feet were being squeezed :-( Not good for running a marathon!

I went up a size in my new Nimbus 12's as I have been having problems with losing my toenails and after running a half marathon on Monday I checked to see how much space there was between my toes and the end of the shoe and found out that my toes were touching the ends! My feet must really swell up during a long run.

The only bad thing about my new trainers is the colour! I no longer run in pink :-(

One Long Run Down....A Few More to Go!

Yesterday I was planning on running an 8k with my friend but decided to try and run a half marathon instead. I figured that I would need to run at least 10k before I met up with her, then run 8k with her and make up the rest on the way home.

This all turned out to be a very very bad idea!!

The run started off great and I took 3 energy gels with me to take at 5k, 10k and 15k. I ran down to the beach and along it and then up to the metro station where I was meeting my friend. The problem was that to run at least 10k before I met up with her I had to run a little faster than I normally would for a half marathon. I was running a pace of around 5:30.

I got to the meeting place 5 minutes early and stood waiting for my friend. I should have at least walked around a little to stop my calves from getting sore. By now I had run 11k.

I ran the 8k with my friend at a much slower pace of around 6:00 and I was dying. My calves were so sore! I still managed to finish the 8k and said goodbye to my friend. So now I'm up 19k.

I decide to run a couple of metro stops which should take me up to my half marathon goal. Unfortunately I'm running into the wind! I am about dead by now and have to throw in a walk every 300 metres!! This is insane I'm thinking. Once I hit 20k I turned around and had the wind help me back to the metro station :-)

I did it though! Another half marathon under my belt. I actually ran it only 2 minutes slower than my best race time!! I was not expecting that as this had been the hardest half marathon I had ever run.

Moral of the story:- Stick to what I know best EVEN SPLITS!!!

Jurassic Coast Challenge!

I found this fantastic challenge and just had to share it!

It's called the Jurassic Coast Challenge, is run over 3 days in the south of England and consists of one marathon each day!!

How cool is that?

This is from the website http://www.votwo.co.uk/_webapp_1205242/Jurassic_Coast_Challenge_2012 :-

The mother of all hilly runs. The 2012 course is being run again from Studland to Charmouth. 
Day one starts off with a pleasant jog along the beach of Studland Bay, past Old Harry rocks , through Swanage and straight into some tough coastal running along the South West Coast Path. Houns – tout Cliff provides the first real climb of the day followed by more climbing on Tyenham Cap and Worbarrow. The finish of the First day is Lulworth Cove where you will be treated to a sneak preview of the next days ‘warm up’ climb beginning day 2.
Day two sees runners (and walkers) enjoy the delights of Durdle Door with steep ascents and descents. The course starts to level off half way in to Day 2 after Ringstead Bay. Weymouth hosts some path appreciated tarmac underfoot followed by a enjoyable lap of Portland to warm down on before finishing at the Event HQ on the Ferry bridge road between Weymouth and Portland.
Day three starts with a challenging and muddy underfoot course along costal foot path towards Abbotsbury. Fairly flat ground for the next 10km until Eype’s mouth then the hilly fun starts again as the course approaches Golden Cap. Its then a short jog to the finish point just to the East of Charmouth.

It does seem to be pretty challenging stuff!

I wonder if I can fit it into my running schedule for next year?!?.........

Training and T-Shirts!

On Monday it was again really cold outside and I didn't much fancy having a run out there!

Instead me and a friend went over to my hill training multi-storey carpark. It has apartments on top of it and so has lots of stairs that run in a straight line to the top. These are kind of inside and sheltered from the wind. We run up and down about 5 or 6 times. It worked out to be about 1.5k of stair training that we did.

Afterwards we went to the top of the carpark which is still inside and did some 10-20-30 training 3 times with a 1 minute break inbetween. Now that was a lot of fun :-)

Between the stairs and the 10-20-30 training we had a great workout and didn't get cold!! I admit my calves were hurting loads the next day.

On another note I have bought myself a new marathon t-shirt :-) See the photo above. It is very fitted and feminine! I'm hoping to get a slogan printed on it: 'Rock 'n' Run'

So Very Cold!

It is just so cold in Denmark right now!

Some days it's been down to minus 15 then add the wind chill on top of that and they say it's about minus 25 :-(

I have been out for a couple of runs but haven't managed more than 5k at a time.

The good news is that it has been snowing again :-)

I actually had a great 4k run in the snow over the golf course yesterday. The snow was so deep it covered my trainers!

I must remember not to sign up for a spring marathon again!! Please remind me as I seem to keep forgetting!